‘He’s got an incredible vision’ – Leclerc ‘really happy’ to see Vasseur continue as Ferrari’s team boss

Charles Leclerc was all smiles ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix following confirmation from Ferrari that Fred Vasseur will continue to lead the famous Italian team for the foreseeable future.

Vasseur took on the job in the build-up to the 2023 season – as the replacement for Mattia Binotto – and guided Ferrari to second in last year’s Teams’ Championship, just 14 points behind winners McLaren.

While 2025 has been more of a rollercoaster ride for the Scuderia, at one stage leading to intense speculation over Vasseur’s future, the 57-year-old has now been handed a fresh deal to stay in the hot seat.

“I’m really happy,” said Leclerc of the news during Thursday’s press conference at the Hungaroring. “It’s not that it’s coming as a surprise, but I’m really happy.

“Especially in the past months there were quite a few rumours, like is always the case around the team, so to finally have the official news out is important.”

Leclerc worked with Vasseur en route to claiming the GP3 title back in 2016 and again during his debut F1 season in 2018, when the Frenchman headed up the then Alfa Romeo-branded Sauber team.

A move to Ferrari followed for 2019, when he shared the garage with four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel under the leadership of Binotto, who resigned from the role at the end of the 2022 campaign.

“Without going into comparing the different eras, I think Fred has an incredible vision,” continued Leclerc, when asked what Vasseur has brought to the team over the last two-and-a-half years.

“I think what’s very difficult within Ferrari is the emotion is very much part of the daily job, because Italian people in general – and that’s what makes Ferrari so special – are extremely passionate about Ferrari.

“But Fred really knows how to leave his emotions aside and have a clear vision of where we are at, no matter how much noise there is around the team. This is very, very important.

“Apart from that, he’s got obviously many more qualities. One of them is also to extract the maximum out of every single person at the factory. This, when you put everything together, makes a big difference.”

Pushed on just how much Vasseur has been able to change within the organisation, Leclerc commented: “He definitely changed the way we are working on different things.

“Again, I think where Fred made the biggest difference is his vision, his overall vision. This he definitely embedded into the team and that’s very, very important.

“As I said, I feel like the beauty of Ferrari is the fact that emotionally speaking it’s always quite intense, but it can also harm us in some ways, especially when tougher times arrive.

“Fred has always had very cold blood in those moments and helped the team to just be a little bit more lucid. That’s probably the biggest thing that Fred brought to the team.”

Team mate Lewis Hamilton was also full of praise that Vasseur would remain in charge, the seven-time World Champion having been convinced to join Ferrari this season by the Frenchman.

"Fred told me yesterday which I was incredibly happy about," said Hamilton.

"I knew it was the right decision, continuity is really important and I think for the team, Fred is the right person to lead this team as I've said from the beginning."